Kevin Kwan’s much anticipated new novel, , is out today, so we asked him a few questions about his favorite books to read, recommend, and give as gifts. * Evelyn Waugh’s novels are a perennial favorite of mine, especially and . To me they just get deeper and funnier with each reading, and you really get to appreciate not only what a genius satirist he was, but also how beautiful his writing was and how he evoked a sense of place.
I also love re-reading Dominick Dunne’s books. I read when it was first released in the late 1980s, and his glamorous depictions of New York society was one of the things that lured me to move there myself. After a few years of Manhattan living and encountering the sort of people he wrote about, I came to appreciate what an astute observer of human nature he was, and rereading the book helped me see that whole crowd in a whole new light.
I feel the same way about , which is Dunne’s ode to Los Angeles. After living in LA for a while, I reread it and began to see the city on a whole other level. It revealed so much about the overlapping circles of influence and why this town operates in the unique way that it does.
I recently read it again and learned yet another fascinating facet of Hollywood history—this time about a notorious murder. * by George Eliot. It has such an august reputation as one of the great works of British literature, and George Eliot’s story also adds to its fascination—how she had to write under the name of “George�.
